Compositions comprising a mixture of sugars, such as lactose, glucose, galactose, fructose etc. are useful as food and drink additives in commercial food and drink production. For example, compositions comprising approximately 1-30% galactose, 1-30% fructose and 1-30% glucose are useful in the manufacture of sports drinks and energy snacks for sportsmen, confectionery, or for people having special food requirements such as diabetics.
Known processes for producing such a composition include simple admixing of individual purified sugars in the required amount. However, sugars in their pure form may be quite expensive, and the purity and therefore quality for each sugar may vary from source to source, resulting in variability of the end composition.
Other processes include one or more enzyme conversions of complex sugars to simple sugars thereby producing a mixture of at least two sugars. Simple sugars are generally sweeter than complex sugars. Additional sugars may then be added from a purified source to complete the desired composition.
However, it is important to maintain the glycemic value of a composition as low as possible so that the blood sugar level of an individual consuming the composition does not increase.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a process for producing a composition comprising a mixture of sugars including galactose and fructose and/or to provide a cheap and convenient method of producing a dairy composition having a high level of sweetness, while having a reduced glycemic value relative to the starting material.